While movie and TV adaptations of video games aren’t at all uncommon right now, Dredge is one that I reckon I would’ve never seen coming. Turns out it’s happening, though.
Developer Black Salt Games and media house Story Kitchen (also working on Sifu and Vampire Survivors adaptations) have revealed that they’re partnering to turn last year’s award-winning cosmic horror fishing game into a live-action feature film. As Engadget reports, it’ll seemingly hone in more on Dredge’s unsettling atmosphere and Lovecraftian beasties than the “gotta catch ’em all” fishing and inventory management of the game.
“Think The Sixth Sense on the water. A grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway,” is how the film is being described.
Dredge (which earned the #7 spot in our 2023 Game of the Year countdown), has very recently celebrated its one year anniversary since launch, marking the occasion by pledging a massive $100,000 donation to the NZ Whale & Dolphin Trust, to help further its efforts in research and conversation of species like the Bottlenose Dolphin and Sperm Whale. The game has managed to sell over 1 million copies in that time and amassed multiple end-of-year award wins and nominations
We scored Dredge a massive 9/10 in our review, with Brodie saying, “To use fishing terms, Dredge isn’t one you’d kiss and throw back. It’s the definition of a trophy catch. Its series of elegantly simple systems interplay nicely, blending seamlessly with an eerily stunning eldritch style and a moreish checklist of sea life to catch.”
